Death eBook 9.8.16

by Lila Rose

  “Fucking course I will. I need to get my mate back.” I snarled. I wasn’t going to break into pieces like my heart wanted me to. Finding my mate was what was important. I needed to be in the game and to do so, I couldn’t crack under the pressure threatening to destroy me. The gut-wrenching, soul-breaking heartache.

  My eyes shifted to Connor up ahead as he kicked Julie’s door aside. “Falcone,” he cried.

  Warren and I made it to his side as Connor helped Falcone sit. “Th-the women, where are they?”

  “Gone,” Warren provided.

  “Fuck!” Falcone grunted when Connor helped him stand. “We were deceived. Dean, I tried. There were too many of them. I’m sorry.”

  “We’ll find them. We will fucking find them, so do not be sorry, brother.”

  I stalked from the room hearing Falcone utter, “I’m fine. It’s healing.”

  Stopping in the middle of the room, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then reopened them. I knew they’d be glowing white while I used the full strength of my gift. I threw my arms wide and yelled, “Come to me. Come to me now.”

  Thousands of souls shifted up through the floor. “Find my mate. Touch me and know her touch, her smell. Find her and then tell me where she is so I can get her back and rain hell down upon Kayne and his people. Now.” Without hesitation, they did as I bade, floating through my body, one after another.

  Once the final one left, I turned to my brothers and said, “I’m going out to search. Warren, call Zander. I want to know why in the fuck he told us about the warehouse, and where he heard it from. His answers had better be good or else his life will be mine. Friend or not.” With balled fists and a clenched jaw, I left to search for my mate.

  Seven useless fucking hours later, I had nothing. Our fucking brother was blocking my souls because they were also reporting back with zilch. My whole body vibrated with anger. I wanted to kill someone. I wanted to wrap my hands around my brother’s throat and strangle the fuck out of him for taking my mate. For touching her. Still, it wouldn’t be enough. For the first time, I wanted to be the one to find that knife, if it were real, and slice it through my brother, ending his existence.

  I swear, if he laid a finger on her, I would torture him day and night forever. I wouldn’t give him an easy way out. If he touched her, he wouldn’t deserve an easy ending.

  “Dean, come back,” Warren ordered.

  “It had better be good to bring me back.”

  “Zander is here.”

  Maybe I had a chance to kill someone after all.

  It didn’t take me long with the speed I took on my Ducati to return to the apartments. My brothers’ presences were in the meeting war room. It indicated Zander was safe for the present. Whatever bullshit he’d spewed to my brothers, they believed. I wouldn’t be so trusting

  I flung the door wide. Zander, sitting next to Warren, jumped and I sneered over at him. He stood quickly, pushing his glasses back up his nose and started babbling, “I cast a spell to feel out for evil, that warehouse came back to me in a reading. I thought he was there. I didn’t understand why my spell would touch that place… until now.” He gestured in front of him. “We’ve been doing some homework; apparently a cult used to perform sacrifices there. Kayne must have known and set it all up. The decay of the bodies was picked up from the spell because it had only recently been cleaned out. But that’s not all—”

  “This is the homework you’ve all been doing? Why in the fuck aren’t you out searching for my mate? Why in the fuck aren’t you helping?” I aimed my whole attention and glare at Warren. “Instead, you want to help your friend clear his name so I don’t take his life?”

  “Stop,” Warren bellowed. “If you calm down for one goddamn second, you would know we haven’t been back long, but it was after I hunted down Zander. Connor and Falcone are on their way back. Zander has new information about a book that Kayne needs to track down the athame.”

  My head jerked back. “It’s real?”

  A grunt, then, “Apparently. Zander found an obscure reference to it in the horsemen’s histories. We believe what Kayne’s looking for is the ironsmith who forged the athame. There was a listing in our own library back in the Middle Ages. We’ve been searching, only to come up empty. I contacted Falcone and asked him what the fuck was going on. He explained, after Zander here described it and its contents, that the book disappeared in our move to LA.”

  “Fuck. Shit!” Angrily, I ran a hand through my hair. “So there is a knife. A motherfucking knife that can kill us and we had the book that told us the placement of the fucking ironsmith who made it and probably knows where this athame is, but now it’s lost.”

  “That sums it up,” Falcone said sadly as he walked in the room with Connor following. “If I had’ve known the importance of that book, I would have kept it closer to me, but I knew nothing, and there were still so many books from our library I hadn’t read, that being one of them.”

  “How did Kayne know?”

  “My guess is that he had read it, but his mixed-up mind isn’t supplying the information on the whereabouts of the ironsmith.”

  A growl of frustration ripped from me and I snarled, “None of this will help me find my mate.”

  “You can’t sense her at all?” Zander asked.

  Glaring at him, I barked, “Yes, Zander, I can. I’ve sensed her all along but I thought I’d play with myself for a few hours before I rescued her from our crazy brother who’s doing God knows what to her and Fallon.”

  “That’s a lot of masturbating time,” Connor mumbled. I picked up a book from the table and threw it at his head. Damn him and his good reflexes; he dodged it.

  We all stilled when the phone on the table rang. Warren reached over and hit Answer so we’d all hear who it was.

  “By now I am guessing you are doing everything to find your precious Julie, brothers.” Kayne’s smooth voice rang through the line. My fists clenched at my sides. Smashing the phone would get me nowhere.

  “You had better not have touched her, Kayne,” I clipped low.

  “My, my… no ‘Hello, my dear brother, it has been so long since I have heard from you. I have missed you’?”

  “Enough messing around, Kayne,” Warren ordered.

  “Ah good, bossy old Warren. So good to hear your voice.”

  “Just tell us what you want.”

  “The book for the women. And do not try to pretend you do not know what I am talking about. I know one of my people was caught, and I know how weak they can be. He would have told you all about what I want.”

  “We don’t—” Falcone started.

  “We need time to get it. It’s hidden away,” Connor said. We all looked to him.

  “An hour to get it and then the time it takes to get here. I know you can make it in a shorter time than what it actually takes.”

  “And where is that?” I asked through clenched teeth.

  “I will have my people send you a message over the computer.” He laughed.

  “Have you harmed her?” I demanded.

  His laughter died. “Not yet, but I have had a grand time with her friend. You have five hours to get the book and get here, or Julie will be up next to play with.” The line went dead.

  I spun to Connor. “What in the hell were you thinking?”

  “I panicked. I didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t want him to know we didn’t have it. Maybe we have a book that Falcone hasn’t read in the library that will tell us where we lost the other book.”

  “Fucking hell,” Warren mumbled. “We don’t, and now we’re fucked when we rock up with nothing.”

  “We fight then,” I said, my voice hard.

  “And risk the women?” Falcone asked.

  Throwing my hand out, I yelled, “They’re at risk anyway.”

  Warren’s computer made a ting sound. We all looked down to it. He sat and pulled it closer, then clicked on something. “Not sure how he got my e-mail, but we have a destination. What
the fuck?”

  “What?” I demanded, rounding the table.

  “It’s six hours away in Tonopah, Nevada.”

  “There’s not much out there, where is he staying?” Falcone asked.

  Warren clicked on the link, and all of us jerked back.

  “Holy crap. That place is fucked-up.” Connor snorted. Leaning in closer, I couldn’t agree more. It was a goddamn clown hotel. Bloody clowns. They were creepy in person, but having a hotel with them on the sign, doors, and other shit was crazy. Snorting to myself, I couldn’t help but think it was appropriate for our loony brother.

  “Suits Kayne,” Warren commented.

  “I was thinking the same,” I admitted. “Six hours. That means we’d better think up a good fucking plan now.”

  “What about what Connor said?” Falcone asked. We all looked at him and he shrugged. “It’s something at least.”

  “I think—” Zander started, but I interrupted.

  “We should just go there and fuck them up for taking my jewel.” I growled low.

  “I have—” Zander tried.

  Warren scooted back in his seat, and I moved out of the way. He stood and turned to me. “Do you want your mate and her friend out safe? We can’t go in there gung ho and risk them. You’re not thinking right.”

  “Wait—” Zander started.

  I threw my hands up in the air. “Of course I’m not thinking fucking right. My mate was taken. She’s with our brother, who’s not all there, and he’s doing God knows what to her. Fuck, he’s already admitted he’s done shit to Fallon. Julie, my Julie, my world, my mate is next if we don’t get our asses there and stop him.”

  “Whatever we come up with, it won’t lead to Julie being harmed. We need to put our heads together and come up with something that will please our brother in a way he’ll just hand over the women,” Warren said.

  “I—” Zander began.

  “He wants the book and nothing else,” Connor said.

  “There has to be something else,” Warren clipped and started pacing.

  The room fell silent.

  Zander cleared his throat. “I have an idea.”

  Turning, I glared at him.

  He blushed and shrank back. “I-I’m not the best or strongest warlock, but what I suggest is an easy spell.”

  “Get on with it,” I demanded.

  “We get a book the same size and weight as what Kayne wants. I can put a spell on it, which should last a few hours at least, to look the same as the one he’s looking for. Only, like I told Warren, I can only remember what some of it looks like.”

  The room fell silent once again.

  “Brilliant,” I burst out. “Bloody brilliant. If this works, I swear I won’t kill you,” I offered. Spinning to Falcone, I asked, “Do you remember what it looked like? We can’t take a chance Kayne remembers while we’re there and knows it’s not the one.”

  Nodding, Falcone smiled. “I do. From what Zander told me, I remember well. It was a phone book of sorts, with the last known locations of the relocated final descendants of the Navah. I’ll sketch it up for him. Connor, go and grab my Harry Potter hardback. It’s the same size as that. We’ll use it.” Connor raced from the room while Falcone grabbed some paper and a pen, sitting down at the table with Zander beside him.

  “Wait,” Zander called and looked up. “He just can’t open it. I can get the cover the same, but I can’t change the inside.”

  “We’ll make the swap quick. Once the women are at our sides, Falcone will take them straight out of there,” Warren suggested.

  Zander nodded and bent in to see what Falcone was drawing.

  Warren came to my side, and I said, “We won’t be recapturing him this time.”

  “Agreed. The women are a priority. We have a plan now.”

  Nodding, I sighed. “We have a plan.”

  It had better fucking work.

  Chapter Twenty

  JULIE

  We waited for a whopping twenty minutes or so before Fallon and I were bored out of our minds. We had already exhausted every possible avenue of escape; in other words, we had walked to the door to find it locked and then to the window and seen we were on the second floor. My heart had sunk when I’d realized we were out of luck at rescuing ourselves.

  Decay also had a minion posted every twenty feet or so, and had removed the room’s phone, so there was no chance to call for help. Without our cell phones or a decent non-clown-related book in sight, we climbed onto the king-size bed and started to flip through channels on the ancient box TV. It was the type with dial knobs to turn it on and a cable box on top that was almost equally as old, to change the channels. I welcomed the distraction. The less I thought about Dean losing his mind, poor Falcone, and the rest, the better. I wondered about how we were double-crossed and came to the conclusion Decay and his icky men had to have known about the boys’ plan at the warehouse. God, which could mean the boys may have also been attacked, possibly injured. The image of Dean scarred like Warren had floated through my head more than a few times since the nightmare started and it scared the heck out of me.

  We hit pay dirt with a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon. I think we were hoping to learn something that would help us out of our current situation. That didn’t happen over the hours we sat there, but it did give us something to keep our minds from dwelling on things that couldn’t be changed. We were debating over who was the better slayer, Buffy or Faith—it was starting to get a bit heated—when we heard the key in the… well, what sounded like a padlock on the outside of the door.

  “Showtime,” Fallon announced as she shut off the TV and hopped off the bed and helped me to stand. Reality hit me like a cold slap. I was terrified of what would happen next. Yes, I’d be able to see Dean, but so much could go wrong once we left this room, and I found myself wishing I had the chance to watch just one more episode of Buffy to escape back into my bubble of denial.

  Fallon squeezed the hand she was still holding. I squared my shoulders and steeled myself for whatever fate had planned next for us; she’d been hard, but fair on me so far. Here’s hoping my luck holds out. Fallon nodded in support and we both turned to greet whoever was on the other side of the door.

  From outside we could hear someone struggling with the lock. “Lord, would you like some help with that?”

  “No, no, I will get it. Just give me a second. This new, how do you say it again? Teak-nol-agy? It is all so damn fascinating. Everything is like a new puzzle box to solve. You have all made such grand progress.” We could hear the whack-a-doodle renew his efforts on the lock. “What is this thing named?” Decay asked as he continued to work.

  “A padlock, my lord,” another minion eagerly answered.

  “Yes, yes, we had those in my time, but it seems they are harder to manage now,” Decay declared, still fighting the lock.

  “Um, my lord, you… have the wrong key.” We heard all work on the cease for a moment. “This one, my lord.” Then the lock clicked, finally being unlocked.

  Fallon and I looked to each other. We should have been petrified, but the whole scene had us smirking. If only Decay wasn’t trying to kill my mate, I think I could like him.

  “Ah, thank you, my child. You will receive a second helping of gruel at supper for this brave deed, son,” Decay responded. Fallon, once again, looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. I hid a nervous giggle under my hand and turned my attention back to the door as the dread settled in my stomach.

  “My lovely sister.” He smiled to me. “Sadly, it seems our time for this visit is over. The man I posted along the highway—” He glanced to the small man-boy with glasses, no older than nineteen, for confirmation that he was correct. Man-boy nodded hesitantly, and Decay continued, “Yes, he telephoned that my brothers have just passed his watch point. They should be here momentarily, so we best be moving out to meet them.” Decay motioned over his shoulder and He-Man entered the room. “Leif, would you mind securing my sister and her friend.�
�

  “As you wish, my lord.” Leif, or He-Man as I preferred to call him, took a ridiculous bow of loyalty that even had Decay rolling his eyes. Hmm, look at that, he has two again. He-Man, who had to be the eager-to-please voice we heard earlier, straightened and raised a roll of duct tape in front of us. “Hands,” he demanded. Silently, we stepped forward with our hands clasped together and out. He quickly bound them together.

  Decay made an effort to smile encouragingly and gestured for us to follow the two minions, man-boy and He-Man, who had accompanied him to our room.

  Fallon and I moved to follow, but as we tried to pass, Decay hooked his arm with mine, jerking me hard to him. Fallon turned, ready to rip him a new one. Please, Fallon, for the love of my sanity, please, don’t do or say anything to piss him off. I can’t watch someone I love go through that again. Thankfully, she looked to me first. My face must have echoed what my mind was screaming. She backed down, turned and walked ahead of us.

  “She is learning. Good,” Kayne said approvingly. I could see her shoulders tighten. When she didn’t turn, he went on, “I am truly sorry for not being a better host. You must have the worst impression of me. Seems my brothers got all the charm in the family. I do hope next time to do better by you.”

  “Not on your eternal life, jackass.” Fallon just could not help herself.

  My body tightened as we walked, ignoring Decay and his strange admission of wanting my approval of his behavior. I leaned forward and hissed, “Seriously? Fallon, I am going to duct tape your goddamn mouth if you don’t learn when to shut it!” It was yet another cussworthy moment. If things kept as they were, I would be as mouthy as Fallon by the year’s end. Meanwhile, we had made it down the flight of steps and into the middle of a parking lot. Decay was chuckling with real mirth at our antics.

  “Oh, Fallon, how you vex me, but it reminds me so of my dear imprudent brother, Connor.” He seemed caught up in his own memories. Then something in the distance caught his attention. With an amused grin, he informed us. “Speak of the devil and he doth appear.”

  We all looked in the same direction. It felt like forever before I heard the sound of motorcycles in the distance. Five minutes later and I was finally seeing why the horsemen were known so formidably throughout history. Four loud, beautiful motorcycles pulled into the lot. Their presence, powerful and consuming, demanded respect and allegiance. By the awed looks on some of Decay’s younger followers, I wasn’t the only one feeling it either. Dean looked magnificent in thigh-hugging jeans, white tee, leather jacket, and windblown, unruly hair. I wanted to run over and climb him like a tree. Having him close again made me aware of how much the distance had affected me. I needed, no, I craved his touch. I licked my lips, my eyes moving back to his; they shone with the same intense need as I was feeling. They also shone with barely restrained fury. He looked fit to kill, and as he turned his attention back to the task at hand, it looked like Decay was at the top of his hit list.